"I could understand the argument of this just being a filler ep and that it didn't progress the story at all but the rest just sounds like too much fanboying honestly. Its only the second ep. To make such extreme claims and damning this season just makes no sense in my opinion.

I enjoyed the episode. Do i wish the story could have progressed? Absolutely. Am I gonna blow this show off and say its not on par with season 1 because it decided to have a random and fun episode? Absolutely not. To do that would be a dumb and hasty decision to make based only on ONE episodes difference."

Well for one thing, I thought the jokes were too slow paced and stale. This show is genius, even the COMEDY is genius. From what I remember, most of the jokes came from their obsession with the virtual girlfriend, but there was nothing really all that clever, Ayase just gets mad at him and Kyousuke acts like a fool. As I said, Episode 9 and 10 in season 1 were also fillers but it was funny, this episode was just creepy, but that may be my opinion, but it felt like nothing was happening and the jokes were just stale and not well-thought out.

The problem is that whilst they have enough material in 7 light novels to easily fill 25 episodes, they're only doing 12/13 (and then adding a few web ones later). They aren't choosing the best 12, they're choosing the 12 that best tell the story. Essentially they're starting from the last few episodes and working backwards, working out what they can't cut. Ultimately some of the funniest episodes may be left on the cutting room floor, to ensure the drama makes sense.

Ayase's feeling are very complicated, and because she's a critical character, it makes it very difficult to cut her. Kuroneko is also critical, but needs far less back story to explain her feelings and actions. Ayase is usually described in a "Boke and Tsukkomi" sense, having a very slapstick relationship with Kyousuke which develops over time. So they've set her off to simmer, and then they'll move on to developing Kirino and Kuroneko.

Watched all of Season 1 in a (semi-)marathon (and thought it was great, not going to lie), but it is clear to me that not seeing the four "True Ending" episodes raises a ton of questions – and several characters I have never seen before – that make Season 2 rather confusing for me. It is unfortunate that a complete understanding of the story relies on material that is not readily available to the viewing audience.

Watched all of Season 1 in a (semi-)marathon (and thought it was great, not going to lie), but it is clear to me that not seeing the four "True Ending" episodes raises a ton of questions – and several characters I have never seen before – that make Season 2 rather confusing for me. It is unfortunate that a complete understanding of the story relies on material that is not readily available to the viewing audience.

It's just that Crunchyroll sucks when it comes to "enhanced" series. It's the same with Bakemonogatari. They originally broadcast 12, then released 4 web episodes. Then the re-broadcast in Japan had the enhanced 15. But sadly Crunchyroll's deal only covers the originally broadcast 12.

I'm surprised. With the tight schedule and such a HUGE amount of plot to get through, I was convinced Kaori would get cut along with Ria Hagy. Guess we'll be seeing more of Kanako as Meruru then.

It's good material though, so will make for a great episode. I'm just wondering how they're going to squeeze the remaining key events into so few episodes. Zero confessions, relationships and break-ups so far ;)

Saori is one of my favorite characters and I totally got spoiled on it. I was foaming my mouth when the episode where she takes off her glasses would come but I thought episode 3 was going to be about Manami, but they totally spoiled that shit for me.FSOJFOSHFOISHFISOHFISOHFIOSHFIOSFHJSOHFJIS I would have been pleasantly surprised if I just watched the episode and found out it was about Saori, why do these people attempt to spoil it? First it was on Crunchyroll then I follow Kiririn and ClariS on Twitter and they totally spoiled it for me. whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy